Enabling creative thinking and collaboration is at the heart of what we do at FiftyThree. For our first Paper Spotlight, we spoke with designer Sara Combs about collaborating with her husband Rich at Hexagon, a boutique design studio they founded together. Learn how the couple collaborate in both their professional and personal lives, and see how they used Paper to visualize their latest project – a complete renovation of a 1949 hacienda in Joshua Tree National Park in Joshua Tree, California.

To jumpstart their brainstorming process, Sara and Rich write down their thoughts to get ideas flowing. Then, using organizational tools like Trello, they organize and prioritize the pages and features they need to design. Lastly, using Sketch, an app designed for UI/UX design, the couple create preliminary and final designs for their clients.

But like any collaborative effort, repeating and refining the workflow is key to success. Sara says: “The more projects that Rich and I complete together, the more our process becomes streamlined. We've learned what each other's strengths are, and have created a process around those strengths. Process and some restriction actually allows us to be more creative."

This summer, Sara and her husband went offline to bring a six-decade-old hacienda back to life as a rental property on Airbnb. Using the image import and annotation tools in Paper, Sara sketched out ideas for the new interior. “I adore the watercolor brush [in the app], and the scissors! Those are key for pattern making, and make it so easy for me to explore new concepts quickly,” she says.

Have you used Paper to bring a project to life? Share your story with us in the comments below.